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The Thirst Remains unquenched!
 Gods from the Hindu pantheon- Mahavishnu,
Indra,
Yama,
Kubera and
Chitragupta – sages
Vasistha,
Durvasa and
Narada, plus our own greats Gandhiji,
Nehru,
Avvaiyar and Bharathiar, together with puranic character
Kuchela, provided the cast for Cho’s eighth and final drama ‘Enru Thaniyum Intha Suthanthira Thaagam’ (poet Bharathiar’s lines)-
‘When will this thirst for Freedom get quenched?’- staged at the
Narada Gana Sabha hall, recently.
A political satire that mirrored the continuing woeful state of affairs in contemporary politics (the play was first staged in
1970), it stressed the fact of life that even celestials could get miserably corrupted and degenerate into devisive forces
amongst themselves through dirty, no-holds-barred modern politics.
Deceased Nallathambi (Ambi Rajagopal), consigned to hell, brings hell to heaven through his devious definitions of
democracy. A talk broadcast on the radio and the crooks’ practical lessons on democracy ‘seduce’ the sages
Vasishta
(Aadhi) and Durvasa (R M Sundaram), who thereupon, insist that modern democracy should be introduced in the
heavens. Sage Narada (CHO), who masterminds the radical scenario, with the blessings of Lord
Mahavishnu (Sai
Srinivasan), helps Nallathambi, covertly, introduce ‘dirty politics’, through clever play of auto-suggestions and
provocative innuendoes.
Come General Elections. Enter all kinds of electoral malpractices – corruption, nepotism and blatant misuse of power.
All hell breaks loose in heaven! Noble – minded ‘souls’ Nehru (Naani), Bharathiyar (Burma Shanker) and Avvaiyar
(Sukumari) seek Gandhiji’s help. Unable to offer a viable solution, the
Mahatma (C Rangachari) goes on an indefinite
fast!
God Vishnu brings, at last, matters to a satisfactory conclusion by rendering Nallthambi powerless. The Gods have
learnt their lessons. Shanthi is restored. Shubham.
The singular highlight of this play is that religious sentiments are not unduly offended, though
Yama’s (Neelu) political
ambitions were uniformly undignified and excessively farcical. But then, when you have to force an unpalatable truth,
down others’ throats, about the ever-contemporaneous reprehensible
politics everywhere, the Gods have to be made
to play farcical roles to suit the script! Kubera (Ramesh), the God of inexhaustible wealth, is
reduced to the level of indigent Kuchela, on the principle if you cannot make the poor rich, the rich can certainly be reduced to utter poverty.
Nallathambi’s unscrupulous principles ensure this. The new Kubera- Nallathambi & Co (unlimited) – flourish by leaps
and bounds. We stand mute and helpless like the Gods!
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